European Quality and Proficiency Standards (CEFR) in practice

1. European Quality and Proficiency Standards (CEFR) in practice

2. The Association • Founded as a European association in 1991 • NGO to the Council of Europe for the teaching and learning of languages • Mission – contribute to the development of language education in Europe (and beyond) • THE European accreditation scheme for language education • Over 100 member institutions and 16 associate members in 22 countries

3. What is special about EAQUALS? • Pan-European (and beyond) • For language education of all kinds • Rigorous, fair, intenrational accreditation scheme that guarantee quality through inspections • Professional association leading developments • Clear and open values – supporting plurilingualism and pluricultural understanding

4. Project Participation • EAQUALS / ALTE European Language Portfolio www.eelp.org • CEFR Quality Management Guide • CEFR Policy Forum • CEFR Standardisation • Working Party on Integration of Adult Migrants • Quality evaluation of on-line teacher training (Socrates)

5. Membership categories • Founder members – who established the association • Full members – providers which have demonstrated in an inspection that they fully meet the standards of the EAQUALS Charters • Associate members – cultural agencies, national associations, examination boards etc which contribute to quality language education • Project partners – organisations not eligible for full or associate membership

6. The EAQUALS Charters • There is a Code of Practice • and three charters: • Student Charter (course delivery) • Staff Charter (qualifications, employment terms • Information Charter (completeness, accuracy)

7. Standards for Teaching Checklist of focal points • efficient organisation of lessons, with written plans and/or records, a logical flow in which students understand what they are doing and how it will help them learn; • teachers’ ability to use a variety of teaching techniques, and to organise students in different working groups (individual, pairs, groups) as well as to present information, monitor and provide support, and manage changes of activity efficiently and clearly; • attention to the needs and interests of individual students as well as of the whole group, e.g. by ensuring that different needs and abilities within the group are catered to without affecting the work of the group; • use of various different teaching media which are appropriate to the age, type, and level of the group and to the aims of the lessons: textbook, board, handouts, audio cassettes etc;

8. Seminars • A Guide to Self-Evaluation for Schools • Quality in the Language School • Managing the Teaching Team • Staff Training and Development • Managing Assessment in the Language School • Marketing the Language School

9. Self-Help Packs • CEFR Curriculum & Syllabus Design • Managing and Appraising Staff • Teacher Development: observation, in-service training, performance review. • Practical (H)elp: The EAQUALS Guide to introducing the European Language Portfolio in Schools.

10. Special Interest Projects (just starting) • School twinning & networking • Teacher training (e.g. error, pronunciation teaching) • Training academic managers • CEFR Can-do descriptors – review, implementation • ELP implementation • Tools to translate EAQUALS materials • Quality management guide (QMS , ISO 9001) • Qualitative research • Accreditation of on-line language learning • Accreditation of teacher training courses.

11. CEFR – The Vision • Accessing and assessing quality • Encouraging development and good practice • Demonstrating a European dimension • Aspiring to pedagogic excellence • Differentiating from the competition

12. CEFR – Methodology • Action-orientation: Can do objectives - what learners need to do : select language for functional reasons • Partial Competences: provide the skills profile learners need – not global language • Transparency: Inform learners; involve them in setting objectives and in monitoring their achievement of them • Self-assessment: Communicative activ-ities and qualitative aspects of performance

13. CEFR - Curriculum The school’s educational philosophy Can Do statements relate to levels & exams Main methods, techniques, activities, materials Syllabus; schemes of work; orientation; progress Assessment: pre/during/post; certification

14. Curriculum and Syllabus • Curriculum: an overall description of objectives, with reference to the levels of the CEFR, including a framework of levels and general statement of means used to achieve these objectives • Syllabus: a means of specifying appropriate course content, aims and learning outcomes for teachers and students (e.g. through description of courses); statements of content to be covered in a certain period

15. Curriculum cycle

16. Competence or Task-based? • Do you emphasise the development of competences and apply these to learning activities? • If so, do the “competence scales” of the CEFR (e.g. grammatical accuracy, vocabulary range) have prominence? • Do you adopt a task-based approach, in which the competences are developed through doing a range of different tasks? • If so, are your objectives described in terms of the “activity scales” (e.g. obtaining goods and services, telephoning, understanding media)?

17. Is the approach to teaching coherent ? • Balance: exposure to language structured learning • The different competences to be covered • linguistic, pragmatic, strategic • The role of tasks and texts • are they relevant to the above competencies? • The links between language and activity: • presentation – practice – fluency • activity – diagnosis – presentation • The treatment of errors and mistakes?

18. CEFR Competence Scales Linguistic • General Linguistic Range • Vocabulary Range • Grammatical Accuracy • Vocabulary Control • Phonological Control • Orthographic Control Pragmatic • Flexibility • Turntaking • Thematic Development • Cohesion and Coherence • Propositional Precision • Spoken Fluency Sociolinguistic * Sociolinguistic Appropriateness

19. Tasks-Functions / Grammar-Vocab

20. CEFR Table 3

21. CEFR - Assessment • Global approach: • Overall impression with descriptors • Standardisation training with samples • Pedagogical approach: • Map course content to CEF scales and content • Design teacher and self-assess. mechanisms • Implement CEF classroom assessment

22. CEFR Assessment - Types • Placement: Self: CEF self-assessment scales Teacher: orals/writing assessed directly to CEF Test: plotted to CEF levels with other assessments • Verification of Learning: Self: checklists (a) portfolio (b) grammar/ vocab Teacher: portfolio descriptors for “continuous assessment” Test: quizzes, games, competitions, checklists, – to check learning • Assessment of level reached: Self: use descriptors to guide students to being happy Teacher: (a) CEFR criteria to rate specific performance Test: (a) “global test” to control subjectivity in teacher grades (b) skills tests designed to a CEFR specification and validated

23. The European Language Portfolio (ELP) • Source of objectives • Self-assessment • Formative assessment – measuring progress • Record of achievement and samples of work • Passport for employers and to further education • Aid to mobility

24. Further Information From the EAQUALS website – www.eaquals.org By e-mail from info@eaquals.org By mail from: EAQUALS SECRETARIAT P.O.BOX 95, Budapest H-1301, HUNGARY